Alice Jolly
Earning His Spurs
My Name is Yip
By Paddy Crewe
Doubleday 384pp £14.99
The narrative voice in Paddy Crewe’s bold and impressive debut belongs to Yip, who is mute, tiny and has no hair anywhere on his body. Yip was born in 1815 and lives in Heron’s Creek, a small town in Georgia. His father mysteriously disappeared on the night of his birth so he lives with his mother, who runs a general store. She is a woman of ‘ruthless Assiduity’ who finds Yip a burden.
Yip is not able to go to school because the other children find his strange appearance unnerving (‘them recoil as though one touch of me might bring the Devil dancing to their door’). Consequently, he has nothing to do except sit outside his mother’s store and watch the
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm